This has been a wonderful week! The weather has been gorgeous and we visited with lots of friends and family.

We got to go to lunch and shopping with Nana, Aunt Brenda, & Aunt Phyllis on Wednesday due to them being off work for Veterans Day. So, that was lots of fun! We ate at one of my favorites - Red Lobster - and I actually got to shop a little while they strolled Rachel around. She likes to keep moving, so stopping to look at something for longer than 5 seconds is out of the question which can make shopping a bit difficult! She got some new PJ's from Aunt Bren and & Phyllis since all of hers were almost too small...pics further down.

Rachel concentrating on crawling...if I concentrate really hard, I can maybe make it to the kitchen...

I did it!! Yeah, I'm getting good!...

Nimbus, won't you be my friend?!?! I would love to grab your tail...won't be long before you'll be hiding from me!

I just love my new fuzzy PJ's from Aunt Bren and & Aunt Phyllis! Thanks you guys!

Mommy, is it ok if I just sit under here and play??? I have no idea why she likes getting under her jumper...maybe it's the challenge of getting over the metal bars to get in there. Not sure...but whatever keeps her happy!

The weather was so nice over the weekend that we tried to go hiking at Radnor Lake...but it was so busy there was no parking! Crazy! So, we headed to the zoo. Here's Rachel living it up at the zoo...

Mommy, I just love these new PJ's...here's the other pair of new PJ's Rachel got from the aunts...

We also got to get out a couple of times over the past week. Nate & Lauren watched Rachel on Thursday night and we ate at Maggiano's on a gift card that Christy had given us for our birthdays back in August...yep, it took us 3 months to use it! It was delicious! We had the fried zucchini appetizer, garlic shrimp linguine, and salads. We got to sit near the piano man too, which was a nice treat! He's awesome! Wish I could play like that!

Then, Rachel had a play date with Lilli on Monday night and Brent & Rachel watched her so we could go out. We ate at Battered and Fried, a little hole in the wall near their house. It was great! I had the fried grouper with fries of course. Insanely bad for me, but yummy.

Rachel was all pooped out after her play date with Lilli. Here's a pic of her after we got home.

The other great news from the week was that Mama Elaine and Papa got to go home! YAY!!!! They were so excited! We went to visit them at home on Sunday, but forgot the camera unfortunately...we'll have to get pics the next time we go. It was Rachel's first trip to their house ever...Mama Elaine has been in the rehab center ever since she's been born...so needless to say, she was on cloud 9 to be home! She seemed like a completely different person! A really nice lady named Sharon is going to be staying with them during the days, cooking, cleaning, etc. She was super nice when we met her, so I'm hoping this works out great for them!

After months and months of being made fun of for reading so slowly, I have FINALLY finished the book called The Shack (by William Paul Young). In my defense, I have had a little someone called Rachel who has helped delay my reading of this book that I received as a gift last Christmas. My goal (to avoid complete embarrassment) was to finish it by this Christmas...so I think I have succeeded.

I was so deeply touched by the ideas in this book, I wanted to make a post about it on our blog. If you haven't read the book, I hope you'll pick one up. I know it will most probably affect the way you live your life in a huge way. I know my life will not be the same after reading it.

I wanted to put one passage from the book on here that was especially eye opening to me and that changed my perspective on how to prioritize in life.

Mack, talking to God..."Don't you want us to set priorities? You know: God first, then whatever, followed by whatever?"

God's response: "The trouble with living by priorities is that it sees everything as a hierarchy, a pyramid...If you put God at the top, what does that really mean and how much is enough? How much time do you give me before you can go on about the rest of your day, the part that interests you and so much more? You see, Mack, I don't just want a piece of you and a piece of your life. Even if you are able, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece, that is not what I want. I want all of you and all of every part of you and your day. I don't want to be among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than a pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life - your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities - is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out, back and forth, in an incredible dance of being...and I am the wind"

WOW! How's that for getting our "priorities" in line??? It really changes my outlook. I've always heard that we need to make God our #1 priority in life, followed by family, work, etc....but after reading this, I've come to realize that God doesn't want be a "priority" in our lives, He wants to BE our lives.

I'm attaching a link to the book's website if anyone hasn't heard of it and is interested.

What a beautiful week this has been! Rachel and I have truly been enjoying this awesome fall weather. We've been playing outside and going on stroller rides every single day! This week has been full of excitement as usual, but it was especially entertaining becuase we had play dates with Cade & Laura and Lilli.

Here are some pics of Rachel enjoying the fall leaves this week...

Papa and Mimi came over for dinner on Friday night. I made 15 bean soup...and for dessert we had brownies, ice cream, and homemade hot fudge sauce that was to die for!! Everyone enjoyed playing with Rachel after dinner.

Then we had a play date with Cade & Laura at Nana's on Saturday....along with a hot dog roast. My favorite was the s'mores...mmmm...messy, but yummy goodness!

Here's Adam spoilin' Laura a little...

Such a cutie pie...

Here's Cade rolling the ball...

...and Rachel taking a spin on Laura's ride...

...and Cade & Laura double timing it on the ride...

Rachel also had her first experience with Puffs this week...didn't go too well. I don't quite understand. Everything she sees, she picks up and puts in her mouth...but give her something that she's supposed to put in her mouth and she doesn't want it...crazy!

Puffs get really sticky once they get a little wet...and they stick to just about anything...hands, faces, the high chair...:o)

We went to Brent, Rachel, & Lilli's on Sunday night. They made chili, potatoes, cheesy cornbread...great night of fun, food, and fellowship! Adam, Julia & Meredith also came.

Rachel liked the cool rug in Lilli's room...it was kind of shag, much different from our carpet at home...

Here's Lilli playing away...

It was such a treat for Rachel to play in Lilli's room. She has so much cool stuff from toys to books to tables, etc...what fun!!!

This is what happens when you leave the mail sitting near Rachel's play area while you go into the other room for just a second...good thing we didn't really want to read this sale magazine anyways...it's in a million pieces!

We went to the Fall Festival at church on Wednesday night to start all the Halloween festivities. Big Al went with us! I enjoyed the popcorn mostly and Adam had the cotton candy.

Dr. Rachel McD and Al...posing with their stethoscopes...although Al is a dental hygienist, not to be mistaken as a dr...

Adam and Rachel enjoying the festivities...

Brendan, Brookie, Sarah, and Justin also joined us at the fall festival...here's Brendan after his face was painted...

Mr. Matthew acting crazy as usual with manly flowers painted on his face...

Dr. Rachel and Franken-Lilli...

Rachel with mommy...

We went to Nate & Lauren's on Halloween and joined Adam and Lauren's family in all the fun. Here's Tristan in his pirate costume...

Tristan, Emeline (a friendly witch), and Evelyn...

The first house Rachel trick or treated at (too bad it was so cold outside...she couldn't even show off her cute scrubs! At least she had a festive orange jacket!

The second house...

Back at Nate & Lauren's...Aunt Lalo gives good candy!

Mmm....a Milky Way...I like Halloween already...

Rachel's homemade Halloween bag...I know, we're cheap! BUT, we figured there was no need to buy her a bag when she was only going to a couple of houses and wasn't really even getting any candy since she can't eat it.